Boulevard Brewing Company's Collaboration No. 1 Imperial Pilsner

What do you get when you combine an over-ambitious brewery in Kansas City, with an odd and difficult to pull off beer style and a Belgian brew master?

The worst of three worlds.

It pours like a standard pilsner. Doesn't look any maltier, and in no way looks like more of anything. It's a clear yellow and although the carbonation may rise fractionally slower, that's about it. Moderate white head that thins fairly quickly.

Smells like any macro. No trace of the pilsner funk I love in the style.

Tastes the same. Except here's where the Belgian comes in, because it has a residual chemical/plastic taste that many Belgians have, especially the lighter styles like wits. Light bitterness that comes out primarily in the aftertaste when the malt fades. The chemical taste gets worse as the beer gets warmer, and I mean much worse, and it tastes nothing like a pilsner by then.

After reading I Love Beer's post about this beer I decided I had to try it, despite having avoided all of the smokestack beers as over-priced and from a mediocre brewery. So it's him I'm really pissed at about this.

Alright, I guess 'pissed' is a bit strong, but I still think he owes me $10.00. Rogue makes an excellent imperial pilsner, which, like I Love Beer, I believe is an odd imperial to make. But they do it the way it should be. If you have a choice, and you do, buy Rogue's instead. Every time.